Wireless or integrated lead flexures for magnetic disk drive suspension assemblies are known. Conventional wireless flexures are mounted to a load beam and include a plurality of leads and a structure (e.g., a tongue having a slider receiving surface) to which a head slider is mounted. The head slider is an electronic component including a magnetic read/write transducer which can read and/or write data from/to the magnetic disk. The head slider is supported and properly oriented in relationship to the magnetic disk of the disk drive by the suspension assembly. As the disk rotates beneath the head slider and head suspension, the air above the disk similarly rotates, thus creating an air bearing which acts with an aerodynamic design of the head slider to create a lift force on the head slider. The lift force is counteracted by the head suspension. The flexure tongue, to which the head slider is attached, is designed to be flexible and resiliently moveable with respect to the remainder of the flexure in response to the aerodynamic forces generated by the air bearing.
Conventional integrated lead flexures are multi-layer structures including a stainless steel layer, a conductor layer including a plurality of integrated leads in the form of conductive metal traces, and a dielectric insulating layer between the stainless steel and conductor layers. Such flexures are typically mass produced by forming a plurality of flexures in an array on a frame or sheet, using multi-step fabrication processes. For example, integrated lead flexures can be fabricated from a laminate sheet including stainless steel, dielectric, and conductive metal (e.g., copper) layers subjected to multiple etching steps using known photolithographic techniques. Alternatively, integrated lead flexures can be formed using additive processes, whereby the stainless steel layer is initially formed (e.g., by etching a stainless steel sheet), and the dielectric and conductor layers are subsequently deposited onto the flexure structure.
Portions of such flexures (e.g., the flexure tongue) desirably have a low stiffness, and thus, are temporarily supported and stiffened, e.g., via temporary structures, sometimes known as tabs, during the multi-step fabrication process. Where used, such temporary structures must be removed from the final production flexure components. Known processes for removing these components, or de-tabbing the flexures, include physically removing the tabs by mechanical means (e.g., cutting). Such processes can sometimes damage the flexures and can also leave residual tab material of the flexure.
There remains a continuing need for improved de-tabbing processes. In particular, there is a need for a process for effectively de-tabbing disk drive head suspension flexures without applying physical force to de-tab the flexure stainless steel and/or conductor structures, and which provide flexures having minimal residual tab material.